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                   Chapter Two

                   their share in the wealth, the chiefly desert-bound families could not
                   at first integrate very easily into the new multinational society. Even
                   now, few of the Manasir have settled in Abu Dhabi town, few aim at a
                   “middle-class" type of existence by becoming civil servants. How­
                   ever, some have started transport companies as a direct follow-up to
                   their previous employment as drivers for companies operating in the
                   desert. The Manasir in Abu Dhabi form a substantial part of those
                   groups who are currently being encouraged to settle.

                   Dhawahir
                   After a large part of the Buraimi oasis had come under A1 Bu Falah
                   authority41 during the rule of Shaikh Zayid bin Khalifah, the original
                   Dhawahir inhabitants of most of the villages became subjects of the
                   Ruler of Abu Dhabi, thus also considerably increasing the number of
                   men who were ready to fight for him. It was, however, even more
                   significant that the Dhawahir as the principal date cultivators of the
                   oasis then formed the bulk of the settled population of the thus
                   enlarged shaikhdom.
                     Estimates of the strength of the entire tribe vary between 2,000 and
                   4,500;42 in the 1968 census 2,844 Dhawahir were counted in the State
                   of Abu Dhabi. Almost all the many sections and subsections of the
                   tribe ceased to be nomadic a long time ago, and had established
                   gardens. The once exclusively Dhawahir villages, al ’Ain, Jfmi, Hfli, al
                   Qattarah and Mu'tirid were partly bought out by the Al Bu Falah
                   during the last decades of the 19th century.43 But the Dhawahir
                   continued to be the cultivators, some of them in the capacity of
                   gardeners who were rewarded by the Bani Yas owners. The
                   Dhawahir were able to keep large flocks of sheep and some goats
                   because there was plenty of grazing in the immediate neighbourhood
                   of the villages. According to Lorimer the entire tribe became beduin
                   during the winter, but they did not need to go very far to find grazing
                   for their camels either. In the last century the Dhawahir still owned
                   large herds of camels. During the last few decades most Dhawahir
                   stayed in the oasis while only a few looked after the rather
                   diminished camel herds in Khatam. In all of al Jau and particularly in
                   the many wadis, shrubs and acacia trees grow in sufficient numbers
                   to have made a charcoal industry worthwhile. The Dhawahir who
                   gathered the wood and produced the charcoal also carried it to the
                   coastal towns on their own camels, along with the products of their
                   gardens such as limes, mangoes, dates and some wheat.
                     In the Gazetteer only three sections of the Dhawahir are men-

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